diff --git a/src/libnm-platform/nm-linux-platform.c b/src/libnm-platform/nm-linux-platform.c
index 185c9aed3e..3c873c9ea7 100644
--- a/src/libnm-platform/nm-linux-platform.c
+++ b/src/libnm-platform/nm-linux-platform.c
@@ -4780,7 +4780,7 @@ _nl_msg_new_address(uint16_t      nlmsg_type,
                     guint8        plen,
                     gconstpointer peer_address,
                     guint32       flags,
-                    int           scope,
+                    guint8        scope,
                     guint32       lifetime,
                     guint32       preferred,
                     in_addr_t     ip4_broadcast_address,
@@ -4792,6 +4792,7 @@ _nl_msg_new_address(uint16_t      nlmsg_type,
                      .ifa_index     = ifindex,
                      .ifa_prefixlen = plen,
                      .ifa_flags     = flags,
+                     .ifa_scope     = scope,
     };
     gsize addr_len;
 
@@ -4800,15 +4801,6 @@ _nl_msg_new_address(uint16_t      nlmsg_type,
 
     msg = nlmsg_alloc_simple(nlmsg_type, nlmsg_flags);
 
-    if (scope == -1) {
-        /* Allow having scope unset, and detect the scope (including IPv4 compatibility hack). */
-        if (family == AF_INET && address && *((char *) address) == 127)
-            scope = RT_SCOPE_HOST;
-        else
-            scope = RT_SCOPE_UNIVERSE;
-    }
-    am.ifa_scope = scope,
-
     addr_len = family == AF_INET ? sizeof(in_addr_t) : sizeof(struct in6_addr);
 
     if (nlmsg_append_struct(msg, &am) < 0)